- Occupation
Director - Country
Hungary
Gyarmathy Lívia
Little Fish... Big Fish
This is a salutary tale of fish poachers and fish protectors. Gangs of organised thieves take fish in industrial quantities from the river along with a single poacher in a checked shirt. A lonely pensioner,János (with a monthly income of 18 euros), sets off in the direction of the same river to literally fish for his supper. A couple of fishing wardens do their best to stop this illegal activity but only manage to catch János and penalise him according to the exact letterof the law. This film attempts to portray a Hungarian universe and not suggest that "big fish" eat "little fish" but that "big fish" flout the law and slip through the net while the "little fish" get hooked every time.
Ballroom Dancing
An elderly dance teacher living in an urban prefab building drives his car once a weak to a remote village to give dance classes at the local “cultural hall.” The classes play a very important role in the life of the village. A teacher, a general store salesclerk, a postman and a pig farmer exchange their worn-out work boots for fine patent-leather shoes and are whisked off to a different world, swaying to the rhythms of the rumba, tango and waltz. Despite the fact that it’s raining cats and dogs, the entire village attends the end-of-season ball.
Recsk 1950-1953: The Story Of A Secret Concentration Camp In Communist Hungary
On 1 January 1950, after a decision taken by the Council of Hungarian ministers, the 'Bureau for State Security' was established. This new department of state police was given independence from all the ministries, and became a special medium of the Party. During the same period, at the foot of the Matra massif, a camp was opened at Recsk. It remained in use until the winter of 1953. The personal accounts of former prisoners, guards, investigators, and political commissioners enabled Géza Böszörmenyi and Livia Gyarmathy to reconstruct a clear picture of the living conditions in this Hungarian concentration camp. The film attempts to show, behind these 'tableaux' of mutilated existence, the rapid corrosion of human principles under political pressure. The Recsk camp represents an indelible traumatism in the collective memory of the Hungarian people. The co-director of this film, Géza Böszörmenyi was a prisoner at Recsk, himself. He, for one, will never forget it.
This is a salutary tale of fish poachers and fish protectors. Gangs of organised thieves take fish in industrial quantities from the river along with a single poacher in a checked shirt. A lonely pensioner,János (with a monthly income of 18 euros), sets off in the direction of the same river to literally fish for his supper. A couple of fishing wardens do their best to stop this illegal activity but only manage to catch János and penalise him according to the exact letterof the law. This film attempts to portray a Hungarian universe and not suggest that "big fish" eat "little fish" but that "big fish" flout the law and slip through the net while the "little fish" get hooked every time.
Ballroom Dancing
An elderly dance teacher living in an urban prefab building drives his car once a weak to a remote village to give dance classes at the local “cultural hall.” The classes play a very important role in the life of the village. A teacher, a general store salesclerk, a postman and a pig farmer exchange their worn-out work boots for fine patent-leather shoes and are whisked off to a different world, swaying to the rhythms of the rumba, tango and waltz. Despite the fact that it’s raining cats and dogs, the entire village attends the end-of-season ball.
Recsk 1950-1953: The Story Of A Secret Concentration Camp In Communist Hungary
On 1 January 1950, after a decision taken by the Council of Hungarian ministers, the 'Bureau for State Security' was established. This new department of state police was given independence from all the ministries, and became a special medium of the Party. During the same period, at the foot of the Matra massif, a camp was opened at Recsk. It remained in use until the winter of 1953. The personal accounts of former prisoners, guards, investigators, and political commissioners enabled Géza Böszörmenyi and Livia Gyarmathy to reconstruct a clear picture of the living conditions in this Hungarian concentration camp. The film attempts to show, behind these 'tableaux' of mutilated existence, the rapid corrosion of human principles under political pressure. The Recsk camp represents an indelible traumatism in the collective memory of the Hungarian people. The co-director of this film, Géza Böszörmenyi was a prisoner at Recsk, himself. He, for one, will never forget it.
Lívia Gyarmathy (born 8 January 1932) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. She has directed over 20 films since 1962. She was a member of the jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
East Silver Caravan - 2008